Arts & Life
Weekly Food Photo Contest: This week’s winner: Robert D. Shycon of Northampton
‘Buns both naked and glazed,” writes winning photographer Robert D. Shycon of Northampton. “My wife, Linda Dell, makes these cinnamon buns with sourdough starter she began in the Great Sourdough Start-up of 2020.”How to enter: Snap a pic of something...
Book Bag: ‘What’s New, Daniel?’ by Micha Archer; ‘Monkeyface’ by Judith Podell
By STEVE PFARRER
What’s New, Daniel?Written and illustrated by Micha ArcherPenguin/Random HouseIn the last several years, Leverett illustrator and children’s book author Micha Archer has been gaining increasing attention for her eye-catching art and for stories that...
A league of their own: Division Q, a new basketball league created by and for queer players, hopes to grow after successful first season
By HANNAH BEVIS
Every Sunday morning from November to early February, dozens of people rolled up to Easthampton Mountain View school to play basketball.Games started at 10 a.m., but players always showed up early to shoot around and warm up (some sleepier than...
New year, new look: Bombyx Center adds more varied arts programming to its lineup while making infrastructure improvements
By STEVE PFARRER
What a difference a year makes.Late last May, the Northampton Fire Department abruptly shut down virtually all music performances at the Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Florence, citing inadequate fire prevention measures at the venue.The move...
The Beat Goes On: The Back Porch Festival is just three weeks away, and the Iron Horse announces its opening lineup
By STEVE PFARRER
If you’re like me, counting the days to spring, it’s a little over three weeks to the official first day, March 19.Yet that’s just a date on the calendar, and the weather in mid-March can still spell winter. But one antidote to that is to hit the Back...
Literary musing and gatherings: Amherst College host its ninth annual LitFest this weekend
By STEVE PFARRER
Amherst College has sent many a successful writer into the world, or brought them in to teach: David Foster Wallace, Robert Frost, Richard Wilbur, Robert Stone, Lauren Groff, Chris Bohjalian, Charles Mann and many others.That legacy will be celebrated...
Speaking of Nature: Midnight wail — The call of the Red Fox
By BILL DANIELSON
It was early in the morning. I had a fresh cup of coffee and a little something to nibble on as I sat down at my computer and tried to make a decision. What was I going to write about this week? There were two ideas rattling around in my head but...
Valley Bounty: CSA season gets jump on growing season next week
By LISA GOODRICH
Though more weeks of winter lie ahead, National Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) week — Feb. 19-25 — marks the symbolic start of the CSA cycle, when member sign-ups start rolling in and participating farmers begin planning for the coming growing...
From Holland with love: Julia van IJken takes up more of the reins with Young@Heart Chorus
By STEVE PFARRER
In the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown, Julia van IJken was at her parents’ home in the Netherlands, unable to travel back to England, where she’d been working on a master’s program in art and communication at the Royal College of Art in...
Music festivals small and large: Jazz Shares mini-fest and a new outdoor indie rock festival are headed to Northampton
By STEVE PFARRER
It’s still winter, but music festivals, small and large, are in the works. Here’s a look at some coming events, one that’s imminent and one further down the road.First off, Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares is offering a mini-fest next weekend, Feb. 22-25,...
Art Briefs: Classical music in Hadley, jazz in Amherst, and a unique art exhibit in Northampton
Haydn and Hummel in Hadley (with Beethoven) HADLEY — Arcadia Players will give an early boost to spring, or least to the spirit of spring, on Feb. 18 with a performance of chamber works from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including...
‘O’ is for Oman: Northampton man completes mission of traveling the alphabet of countries
By JAMES PENTLAND
More than 60 years after he crossed his first foreign border, Gerard Simonette this month completed a mission of sorts: He checked off the last remaining letter of the alphabet of countries he has visited with a trip to Oman.Simonette, 80, who...
Best Bites: Where to eat dinner right now: The top 35 Valley spots for dinner and what you should order
By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN
If I were writing the Pioneer Valley chapter of a travel guide to New England, this would be its section for “dinner with table service.” I list restaurants first that I feel are most essential to the local dining scene, the ones we can’t live...
Taking up long-form fiction: Acclaimed short-story writer Kelly Link is set to debut her first novel
By STEVE PFARRER
Kelly Link has piled up quite a few accolades and honors over the years: a MacArthur “genius grant,” a Pulitzer Prize nomination, several awards for fantasy fiction — a Hugo, a World Fantasy, and three Nebulas — and the kind of praise writers dream...
Weekly Food Photo Contest: This week's winner: Richard B. Newton of Easthampton
Along with this photo, Richard B. Newton of Easthampton wrote, “Found today at the Big Y — Turnover opens up about the joy of being raspberry!”How to enter: Snap a pic of something delicious-looking and send it with your name, town and a sentence or...
Let’s Talk Relationships: Single on Valentine’s Day? How to be your own valentine
By AMY NEWSHORE
Many of us are facing Valentine’s Day with a lack of enthusiasm, to say the least. You may be newly single and are feeling raw and shaky. You may have been on your own for a long time and here you are, solo, once again on this holiday. Or you may find...
Art that traveled far, wide: Smith College exhibit showcases venerable art from the Persianate world
By STEVE PFARRER
Before it became recognized by its modern name in 1935, Iran was known for centuries — at least in the western world — as Persia, a name that reflected the language of the same name and the culture that was part of it.In the 1970s, academics coined...
Still harmonizing after all these years: Silver Chord Bowl marks its 40th anniversary
By STEVE PFARRER
The 1980s witnessed the start of what have become some longstanding artistic landmarks in Northampton: the Young@Heart Chorus, the downtown New Year’s Eve festival called First Night Northampton, and a good-natured competition involving collegiate a...
The Beat Goes On: Acclaimed dobro player shows her singer-songwriter side in Northampton, an eclectic duo comes to Florence, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
The Parlor Room features a steady stream of singer-songwriters, given the Northampton club’s intimate setting is ideal for acoustic music.The vast majority of those performers come bearing acoustic guitars. But Abbie Gardner will bring her dobro, or...
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: A garden is a canvas: “Painting the Modern Garden: From Monet to Matisse” comes to Amherst Cinema
By MICKEY RATHBUN
As the calendar page flips to the short but cruel month of February, I suspect that many gardeners, like me, are getting tired of the somber palette of gray and brown.Just in time to rescue us from seasonal ennui, a wonderful documentary, “Painting...
